Natural Gas Pipeline Co. v. Panoma Corporation et al. (349 U.S. 44)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 11, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 349 U.S. 44 · 75 S. Ct. 576
- Docket
- No. 191
- Argued
- March 28, 1955
- Decided
- April 11, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 7–1
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Warren, Justice Black, Justice Clark, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Burton, Justice Reed, Justice Minton
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. In these cases Oklahoma has attempted to fix a minimum price to be paid for natural gas, after its production and gathering has ended, by a company which transports the gas for resale in interstate commerce. We held in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Wisconsin, 347 U. S. 672, that such a sale and transportation cannot be regulated by a State but are subject to the exclusive regulation of the Federal Power Commission. The Phillips case, therefore, controls this one. We disagree with the contention of the appellees that Cities Service Gas Co. v. Peerless Oil and Gas Co., 340 U. S. 179, and Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Oklahoma, 340 U. S. 190, are applicable here. In those cases we were dealing with constitutional questions and not the construction of the Natural Gas Act. The latter question was specifically not passed upon in those cases. Reversed. Mr. Justice Douglas, being of opinion that State regulation of price is permissible until the Federal price regulation permitted by Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Wisconsin, 347 U. S. 672, is imposed, dissents. Mr. Justice Harlan took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases.
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